“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”

The Game.

The Crew, in common with many other Sherlock Holmes societies and groups, play ‘the game’ (sometimes called ’the great game’ or ‘the grand game’) as inspired by Holmes’ call to Watson in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange: “Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot.” In this game we assume Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to be real people, the sixty tales in the Sherlock Holmes Canon to be a true narrative of their cases and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be Watson’s ‘literary agent’. This is not intended to show any disrespect to the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the author of his adventures.

Sailings.

When playing ‘the game’ we like to employ a nautical turn of phrase, in keeping with our theme and background, so don’t be surprised to hear talk of harbours, quays, wharfs, embarking, disembarking and other such terminology. Our meetings and events are known as sailings with topics and other items on the agenda being referred to as ports of call.

The Sherlockian ship normally sails at monthly intervals between September and June and on occasion more frequently (January is usually a case in point). We assemble for our Regular Sunday Sailings (the RSSs) on the last Sunday afternoon of each month from September to November. Breaking for ”the season of forgiveness,” we resume again in January, and then go on through to May. The format for the RSSs centres around our systematic study of the Sherlock Holmes Canon (topics for discussion are written on slips of paper and drawn at random from the deerstalker by the Captain of the day) with a 10-question quiz tied into each case.  Hardly surprising, we’re also rather into watching films (Sherlock Holmes ones, naturally enough, although sometimes it can be something with a Holmes theme or connection). Among the many and various other things we do, short talks and poetry recitals (and no, we haven’t got around to a sing-along just yet!) also have their place.

It’s not all hard work, however. As well as being a literary society, we’re even on some occasions quite sociable. Events such as our annual dinner (every December, usually the first  Thursday evening in the month and always at the same venue), Sherlock’s  birthday party celebration (held on the widely recognized date of 6 January) and the end of season annual outing (that’s normally in June) help complete the calendar quite nicely. We also try and manage the occasional visit to the theatre should a Holmes play include Belfast or the surrounding area in its itinerary, but don’t get too excited – unfortunately these type of productions don’t come to our home port all that often. Trips to the cinema have also been figuring in our plans again since the exciting and long-overdue return of our heroes to the big screen.

Crewmates & Captains.

All members  are known as Crewmates.  Captains are appointed from the ranks of the crew and serve on a rotational basis at each sailing. Some crew also undertake Officer duties such as those performed by the Purser. The RSSs are usually hosted by a Harbourmaster, also on a rotational basis. Harbourmasters and Captains tend to be one and the same person on these occasions.

Membership.

While a fondness for Sherlock Holmes is an obvious prerequisite for membership, no one is required to sit an entrance exam! You do not need to be a Holmes expert to join. Visitors from other societies or groups are welcome to come on board – by prior arrangement – at sailings, as are those who may be considering membership but wish to test the waters first.  All visitors are classified as passengers. Further details about membership including subscription rates can be obtained from the Purser. Membership runs for a full year from the last Sunday in September. We also accept new members during the year on a pro rata basis.

Publications.

Our monthly newsletter Mayday Mayday, is a useful source of news (Crew, also general Holmesian and Doylean), information, correspondence and review. Published from September to May each year,  Mayday Mayday is available to members in both print and electronic formats. Most issues usually run to four A4 pages.

An annual journal, The Log, was published each November from 2007 to 2010. Having completed Volume One, a decision was made that in future all scholarly essays published by the Society would in future be published on this website instead. To this end a new page will be created and we expect to make an announcement about the launch of this in the near future.

Website.

This website, launched in March 2010, is for everyone who is interested in Sherlock Holmes, not just our members.  We are continuing to develop it and hope to make an announcement about our further plans soon.

Other Societies.

The Crew is but one of several hundred (the precise number is difficult if not indeed impossible to determine) Sherlock Holmes societies and groups around the globe.  Although an independent society, we actively encourage co-operation with the Holmesian/Sherlockian and Doylean fraternity world-wide, whether as societies/groups or individuals.  A number of our members also belong to other like-minded societies so the selection of addresses shown on our Links page tends to reflect that fact. The Links page will also take you to websites which have extensive links to many other societies apart from those ones we’ve specifically listed.

Codes & Penguins.

The four letter/number codes referred to in articles on this website are those devised by American Sherlockian Jay Finley Christ (pronounced like ‘wrist’) as abbreviations for the sixty stories which constitute the Sherlock Holmes Canon.  They have been widely used throughout the Sherlockian world for many decades. For the sake of uniformity and convenience, page references in articles published on this website and in our publications are taken from the Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes (same edition as Doubleday). This is the edition which the Crew uses for group study purposes. We often use these page references in conjunction with the equivalent Christ codes. An example of this is the quotation which appears on our Home page: “I went down to the Albert Dock yesterday at 6 p.m; and boardered the S.S.May Day, belonging to the Liverpool, Dublin, and London Steam Packet Company.” This quote is taken from The Adventure of the Cardboard Box. The code for this story is CARD and the Penguin Complete page number is 897 so the abbreviation is therefore CARD 897. You can find the full titles of all sixty stories together with their equivalent case codes on our Stories page – just click on the Stories tab.

Holmesians or Sherlockians?

These are terms which are widely used by Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts (also sometimes known as fans). Americans seem to like being called Sherlockians while the British (traditionally more reserved, or so we’ve been led to believe) usually prefer Holmesians. Frankly, here on the May Day we’re quite laid back about this sort of thing so Sherlockians, Holmesians or any other label you care to pin on us will do just fine.

Contact Us.

You’ll find the e-mail address of the Purser on the Contact Us page. This is the fourth Tab on the drop-down menu in the About the Crew page. All correspondence regarding the society including membership enquiries, also this website, will be dealt with through this medium. We welcome feedback from members and non – members alike.